Today In NASCAR History

1918: Sara Christian, the only woman in the field in NASCAR’s first Strictly Stock (now Sprint Cup) race, is born. The Dahlonega, Ga., native qualified 13th and finished 14th that June day at Charlotte Speedway in 1949. Though she competed just seven times in NASCAR’s top series, she took fifth place at Heidelburg Raceway in Pittsburgh to record the first top-five finish for a woman in NASCAR history. That stood as the best finish by a woman in any NASCAR national series until 2011, when Danica Patrick placed fourth at Las Vegas in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Christian died in 1980.